Rattlers get prepared to study aboard

Teaching a class at 5 p.m. to a group of college students may sound like one is describing the life of a professor. However, it is the life of foreign exchange students at Florida A&M.

A handful of Brazilian exchange students have volunteered to help the next batch of FAMU students traveling abroad.

With no Portuguese classes available at the university, students were recommended to register elsewhere. Paris Proctor, a fourth-year business administration student, enrolled in a Portuguese class at Florida State University after FAMU’s Office of International Education and Development notified her.

“I applied last spring, and I was accepted,” Proctor said. “During the summer, they notified me that I had to register for either the FSU class for Portuguese or at another university.”

The students who were unable to enroll at another university were left with no options. The applicants for the study abroad program to Brazil must take at least one semester of Portuguese to be accepted.

With no classes available at FAMU, Joseph Jones, project director of the Office of International Education and Development, took action.

Jones reached out to a group of foreign exchange students and asked them to volunteer their time to teach an introduction to Portuguese class. The class has the schedule of a three-hour credit course, but students teach it at no cost.

“They are jewels,” said Jones, speaking of the foreign exchange students.

Jones said the students are manageable, teachable and adapting well to FAMU.

A non-credit class that started with five or six students has increased to a full class with about 15 to 20 students. The classes are offered Monday through Friday, but applicants must attend class at least twice a week from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The exchange students teaching the class said they are enjoying the experience.

“I really like teaching our culture of Brazil,” said Maria Mazevedo, a senior from Benabou, Brazil. “I never knew I would be teaching a class, but I have experience.”

Fernando Cavalcante, an agricultural science student from Brazil who also teaches, said he is enjoying his trip enough that he is considering returning for another semester.

“I would like to do this again,” Cavalcante said. “I am doing research here in biology, and I think it would be great to come back here and finish the research.”

The exchange students take turns teaching the class. Luisa Queiroz, a senior biology student, teaches the class on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Mazevedo. Cavalcante and Taylan Santos, a business student, teach the class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

“I like how in-depth it’s going,” said Omikunle Bradley, a fifth-year food science student who is taking the class. “It’s a lot of things that we’ll use in Brazil that they are teaching us now. I love the direction it’s going in.”

A non-credit class that started with five or six students has increased to a full class with about 15 to 20 students. The classes are offered Monday through Friday, but applicants must attend class at least twice a week from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The exchange students teaching the class said they are enjoying the experience.

“I really like teaching our culture of Brazil,” said Maria Mazevedo, a senior from Benabou, Brazil. “I never knew I would be teaching a class, but I have experience.”

Fernando Cavalcante, an agricultural science student from Brazil who also teaches, said he is enjoying his trip enough that he is considering returning for another semester.

“I would like to do this again,” Cavalcante said. “I am doing research here in biology, and I think it would be great to come back here and finish the research.”

The exchange students take turns teaching the class. Luisa Queiroz, a senior biology student, teaches the class on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Mazevedo. Cavalcante and Taylan Santos, a business student, teach the class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

“I like how in-depth it’s going,” said Omikunle Bradley, a fifth-year food science student who is taking the class. “It’s a lot of things that we’ll use in Brazil that they are teaching us now. I love the direction it’s going in.”

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